the consensus seems to be that mitt romney was that last night. what put him in that position? >> mitt romney helped himself and came across as very energetic, he was concise, even funny in a lot of his answers. the format actually ended up benefiting him because you elevate the challenger. president obama has been campaigning with the air force one, being able to ride on air force one, having the presidential seal at his podium. now mitt romney was elevated to president obama's level. i was reminded in 2004 when john kerry was challenging george w. bush and we saw a similar debate performance where the challenger came out swinging, did very, very well. the incumbent president was a little bit on his heels mainly because sometime you're not used to being challenged by somebody in that type of setting. so we move to the next debate. it seems like mitt romney did very well on style, although substance might have been a different matter. >> speaking of substance, a lot of people thought this debate was more informative, but did these issues and ideas connect to the voters? >> i th